Criminal Law

CRIMINAL LAW

Involuntary Servitude

The Ucheomumu Law Group has a special understanding and the dynamics of involuntary servitude image people charged with involuntary servitude pursuant to 18 USC § 1590 (Trafficking with respect to peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or forced labor) or18 USC § 1584 (Sale into involuntary servitude). Ancillary to the crime of involuntary servitude is the conspiracy component. Many people charged and prosecuted for involuntary servitude usually originate from Africa (Nigeria and Cameroon) and from Asia (primarily from the Philippines). Regardless of the national origin of a person charged with involuntary servitude, the usual scenario is that defendant thought that he/she was helping someone from their native land to come to the United States for a chance to a better life. The last thing on a defendant's mind is that he/or she may be charged with involuntary servitude and if convicted will serve a long prison sentences, made to pay huge restitution to the alleged victim, potentially be deported and the alleged victim gets a United States citizenship.

To be convicted of involuntary servitude, a person must cause someone to be laboring against that person's will to benefit another, under some form of coercion other than the worker's financial needs. While laboring to benefit another occurs also in the condition of slavery, involuntary servitude does not necessarily connote the complete lack of freedom experienced in chattel slavery; involuntary servitude may also refer to other forms of unfree labor. Involuntary servitude is not dependent upon compensation or its amount.

At The Ucheomumu Law Group, we understand the stakes, and how to properly defend people charged with involuntary servitude. We understand foreign cultural dynamics and the American legal landscape, and we fuse them together to mount a vigorous defense. We have conducted a Post Juris Doctorate Research on Human Trafficking encompassing almost everyone charged, and virtually everyone convicted of involuntary servitude should not have been convicted if the Defense understood foreign cultural dynamics.

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